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Bruce Arians says OC Byron Leftwich 'more than ready' to be a head coach

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When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hired Bruce Arians in the offseason, they were expecting him to handle the play-calling duties for the offense this season. After all, the Bucs specifically went after Arians because of his track record of success working with such quarterbacks as Ben Roethlisberger, Peyton Manning and, most recently, Carson Palmer.

So, it’s understandable why some were confused when they heard that former Arizona Cardinals offensive coordinator and NFL quarterback Byron Leftwich (the seventh overall pick by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 2003 draft) would be the one relaying the plays to Winston this year.

While Winston has struggled with turnovers this year, including a league-leading 28 interceptions, there’s no denying that the Bucs’ offense has improved from last season.

In 2018, under former head coach Dirk Koetter, the Bucs had the league’s third-best overall offense, but ranked just 12th in scoring. This season, Tampa Bay ranks third in scoring, averaging 29.1 points per game. Plus, Winston is just 92 yards away from becoming the eighth quarterback in NFL history, and first Buccaneers quarterback, to throw for over 5,000 yards in a season.

Given Leftwich’s success this season with the Bucs, coupled with his brief stint as OC of the Cardinals, you can expect the 39-year-old coach to garner interest this offseason from teams looking to fill their head coaching vacancy.

“To me, for a young coach it’s who you hire. Who are going to hire? Are you going to run the offense? I think with the right people and the right GM and ownership [Byron]’s more than ready.’’

It would be great for Leftwich if he got a head coaching opportunity, but losing him would certainly hurt the Bucs. You have to imagine that if he did leave the Bucs after just one year, Arians would strongly consider taking over play-calling duties himself. If he were to bring in a new offensive coordinator in the offseason, they’d have to establish a rapport with Winston and basically start all over again. If Tampa Bay is going to make a serious run at the postseason next year, consistency in the offseason will be key to Winston’s development.

Hopefully, that means Leftwich sticks around for at least one more year.

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